Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi Wednesday welcomed the adoption by the UN Security Council of a resolution authorizing a 26,000-strong joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur, Sudan.

Speaking before the media at the sidelines of the 14th ASEAN Regional Forum in Manila, Yang said the move by the UN is a good one that is worth welcoming by the international community, as it is helpful to find a political solution to the Darfur problem.

He also said the sending of a UN-African Union peacekeeping force to Darfur is to push all the parties involved in the conflict to implement the peace agreements they have signed and finally obtain a lasting peace in the troubled area.

(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2007)